Female big wave surfers get their due in documentary

from "It Ain't Pretty," screening Thursday night to open the SF DocFest

from "It Ain't Pretty," screening Thursday night to open the SF DocFest

Photo: Courtesy SF DocFest

Photo: Courtesy SF DocFest

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from "It Ain't Pretty," screening Thursday night to open the SF DocFest

from "It Ain't Pretty," screening Thursday night to open the SF DocFest

Photo: Courtesy SF DocFest

Female big wave surfers get their due in documentary

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There have been any number of surfing documentaries, but not that many about female surfers and probably just one about the women who surf the cold, gray waters off Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

They are the Outer Bar Babes, and they are the stars of “It Ain’t Pretty,” which receives its world premiere Thursday, June 2, at the opening of the 15th San Francisco Documentary Film Festival.

The 70-minute film by Dayla Soul focuses on a half-dozen big wave surfers who paddle out to the Red Triangle. Great white sharks patrol these waters, and the only bikinis are in footage that takes down the “Gidget” stereotype.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to die,’” says one of the surfers, describing a two-wave hold-down.